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Pasta Carbonara

Welcome back! 
Today, we have the third recipe in our series of the Four Roman Pastas: Pasta Carbonara! This is probably the most popular of the four, and it's no surprise, because this dish is the perfect comfort food: flavorful, rich, and creamy. The sauce may remind you of something like alfredo sauce, but the difference could not be larger: modern Alfredo sauce is largely based on cream, while the body of carbonara sauce is actually egg! 

Pasta Carbonara

Makes about 4 servings

Ingredients:

  • 12 ounces spaghetti (or any other pasta, but spaghetti is traditionally used)
  • 2 whole eggs
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 2 ounces Pecorino Romano, finely grated
  • 1/2 teaspoons black pepper, freshly ground
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 4 ounces guanciale
  • You'll also need some pasta water, probably around a cup

Directions:

  1. In a bowl, beat the whole eggs and egg yolks together. Add in the Pecorino Romano and black pepper and mix it all together. 

  2. In a pan, saute the guanciale in the olive oil until crispy, for about 5 minutes. Take this off the stove when done.
  3. Cook the spaghetti in a pot of water with a teaspoon of salt, per the instructions on the pasta packaging.
  4. Slowly add 1/4 cup of pasta water into the bowl with eggs and stir constantly until even. The eggs should be room temperature before adding the pasta water.
  5. A couple minutes before the pasta is al dente, return the guanciale to the stove to reheat.
  6. Transfer the spaghetti to the pan with the guanciale and mix. Add about 1/2 to 1 cup of pasta water and cook for a few minutes to allow the water to incorporate into the sauce.
  7. Take the pan off of the stove. Add in the egg mixture and mix constantly and thoroughly.
Despite the resulting dish being a pretty simple pasta with sauce, there's actually quite a few things to juggle with this dish, especially with the egg. If you don't take careful attention in making sure each step is done correctly, you could end up with little chunks of egg, but you also have to be quick enough in mixing the egg into the pasta in order for it to cook properly!

-Chefpo

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